Writing: Warning Labels: Who are they Warning?

[University of Michigan, 2006]

When former vice-president Al Gore’s wife purchased Prince’s 1984 album Purple Rain for her 12-year old daughter, she didn’t exactly get what she had expected. After hearing the hits “Let’s Go Crazy” and “When Doves Cry” on the radio, Tipper Gore was shocked to hear some of the lyrics of other songs from the same album, especially “Darling Nikki.” She was so appalled, in fact, that she decided it was time for a change, and that other parents should be informed of the inappropriate lyrics that were being circulated in music. In May 1985, she formed the Parents’ Music Resource Center (PMRC), a non-profit organization created to pressure record companies to put warning labels on albums containing explicit material. The PMRC had the support of senators’ wives, congressmen, and cabinet officials (Lee). However, are these labels really serving their true purpose? Are they stopping kids and teenagers from listening to explicit music? The warning labels found on many musical albums are ineffective because the music of artists such as Eminem are still reaching kids and young teenagers; not only is their music still readily accessible through the purchase of albums, but it is also available through other means such as MTV, concerts, and file-sharing. The music of Eminem may have a negative effect on its young listeners, despite the PMRC’s attempt to prevent it from reaching them.

Each and every one of Eminem’s ten albums has a warning label stamped on the front—plainly displayed and non-removable—reading “The Parental Advisory is a notice

to consumers that recordings identified by this logo may contain strong language or depictions of violence, sex or substance abuse. Parental discretion is advised.” Yet Eminem has won nine Grammy awards, the Video Music award seven times, the Europe Music Awards eight times, the Billboard Music Award twice, and the Teen Choice Award twice (Eminem Awards). The Teen Choice Award, especially, shows that Eminem’s music is being heard not only by mature audiences as the warning label encourages, but targets a younger crowd, teenagers. His success and popularity would not be possible without the support of his young fans. He has sold over seventy million albums world-wide (Ajirire), and according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is the fastest-selling rap artist of all time (Armstrong). His 2000 album Marshall Mathers LP sold over 1.7 million domestic copies in the first week alone (Borland).

Obviously, warning labels have not prevented people from buying Eminem’s albums. Consequently, young people are being exposed to violent themes that are common in Eminem’s music. For example, in his 1999 song “My Name Is,” which in 2000 won a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance, Eminem acknowledges the fact that he promotes violence in his music and that kids may try to emulate him: “Hi kids! Do you like violence? (Yeah yeah yeah) Wanna see me stick nine inch nails through each one of my eyelids? (Uh-huh) Wanna copy me and do exactly like I did?” The song goes on to narrate Eminem being so angry that he rips off Pamela Lee’s breasts, smacks her so hard that it “knock[s] her clothes backward,” hits his English teacher with an eraser, chases him with a stapler, “staple[s] his nuts to a stack of papers,” and ends up shooting himself in the head. The album from which “My Name Is” comes from, titled Slim Shady LP, has a cover which depicts a body in the truck of a car near a body of water. In another one of the songs in Slim Shady LP, Eminem raps about an abusive husband that murders his wife, disposes of her body in the ocean, and tells his daughter, who is riding in the car with him, “Nobody in this world is gonna keep me from you.” Kids and teenagers that hear these lyrics and see the picture of a body about to be disposed of in the ocean might get the idea that murder is a viable solution to domestic problems, and that since Eminem was just trying to be with his daughter, the idea of murdering his wife is not wrong. And while the “Parental Advisory” label is clearly printed on the upper right hand corner of the album, it was named a platinum album, selling 5 million copies (Dave), was ranked number 273 by Rolling Stone Magazine in a list of the 500 greatest albums of all time (Rolling Stone Top 500), and won a Grammy in 2000 for Best Rap Album of the Year (Eminem Awards). Eminem’s second and third albums, The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show, have sold almost 10 million copies each (Dave), and contain lyrics that just are violent. Arguably, Eminem’s albums may have been purchased by a mature audience, since the warning labels found on each album clearly states the explicit content of the albums. But popular music is geared toward young people, and younger teenagers may not be aware that Eminem’s lyrics are meant to be a “joke”. And while parents can monitor what their kids listen to at home, there is nothing to stop them from listening to Eminem’s music at school, on the playground, or at an unmonitored house of a friend. The warning labels have done nothing to stop the success of Eminem or his CD sales.

The success of Eminem’s albums as music that is targeted toward young people is shown by his popularity on MTV. “My Name Is” became the first rap song to acclaim a spot on MTV’s Total Request Live (TRL) (Halfon). MTV is a channel that targets 18-24 year-olds because “…younger teenagers aspire to be like them” (Quigg and Solomon). While MTV claims to target 18-24 year-olds, however, it is important to note their actual audience: If younger teenagers are trying to be like the people that MTV claims to target, 18-24 year-olds, the younger teenagers aged 13-17 will in turn watch MTV themselves, and see artists like Eminem proclaiming lyrics of violence. Young teenagers and children often try to emulate their older peers, their “big brother or sister” in popular culture, and since many of MTV’s reality shows feature characters that are in the 18-24 year-old age group, younger kids will want to watch them so that they know what to aspire to. Clearly, the warning labels on Eminem’s album Slim Shady LP did not stop it from selling millions of copies, consequently causing it to hold a spot on TRL for thirty days in a row (Halfon). Young teenagers and kids are still exposed to this song and album through television, specifically MTV, despite the warning labels on the album cover.

Eminem is also reaching a young crowd by putting on concerts. In 2005, his Slane Castle Concert sold out 80,000 tickets in just a few minutes (Eminem headlined). The concert, part of the “Anger Management 3” tour, featured songs such as “Puke” in which Eminem raps about his hatred for his ex-wife Kim: “You’re a fuckin’ coke-head slut, I hope you fuckin’ die, I hope you get to hell and Satan sticks a needle in your eye, I hate your fuckin guts…I hope you die.” There were no age restrictions or parental consent requirements to go to this concert, and it is likely that a large number of kids and young teenagers were in attendance. For them to hear such vulgarity coming from a successful rapper such as Eminem sends kids the wrong message. Touring in Phoenix, Eminem’s portion of the concert featured an on-stage video screen in which Eminem is seen writing a suicide note and loading bullets into a gun. His suicide attempt was thwarted by a member of D12, Eminem’s right-hand rapper, and at the end of the concert the gun went off only to reveal a flag with the words “Bang” on it (Fuoco). And while the simulated suicide was never carried out, the idea of suicide was still presented and the young people at the concert may have misinterpreted the concept of suicide as a plausible solution to life’s problems. In “Ass Like That,” another song featured at Eminem’s Anger Management Tour, Eminem once again admits that his music is influential: “I can get away with anything I sing, you will love it,” he raps, implying that no matter what the lyrics to his songs are, his fans will stick soak up every word and love his music.

“Stan,” another song featured in Eminem’s Anger Management Tour, is the quintessential example of how Eminem’s music has the ability to affect his fans. In the song, Eminem raps out two letters written to him from a fan named Stan. In the first letter, Stan says that he is Eminem’s biggest fan, tells him about his pregnant girlfriend, and asks Eminem to write him back. In the second letter, disappointed that Eminem has failed to write or call, Stan says that its “fucked up” that Eminem wouldn’t give his little brother an autograph at a recent concert, but admits that he can relate to all of Eminem’s songs: “See, I'm just like you in a way. I never knew my father neither. He used to always cheat on my mom and beat her.” Stan goes on to explain that he cuts himself to see how much it bleeds because “everything [Eminem] says is real.” Stan ends up driving down the highway at 90 mph with his girlfriend in the trunk, and says “I drank a fifth of Vodka, you dare me to drive?” a direct quote from Eminem’s song “Slim Shady.” The letter concludes with Stan telling Eminem that he is driving toward a bridge with his girlfriend tied up in the trunk, just as the album cover of Slim Shady LP depicts. In the final stanza of the song, Eminem finally writes back to Stan, assuring him that he talks about cutting himself only in a joking manner and that he wasn’t avoiding him on purpose. At the conclusion of the song, Eminem realizes that he had heard about Stan on the news, and that all of his violent actions were a result of his music. “Stan” is a perfect example of how seriously some people take the lyrics to Eminem’s songs. Children and young teenagers might hear Eminem’s songs and try to do what Eminem claims to do, just as Stan had.

File-sharing is another way that children and young teenagers have access to inappropriate music such as the music that Eminem produces, nullifying the efforts that are made by the PRMC in slapping warning labels on Eminem’s albums. In the United States alone, 60 million people participate in the act of file-sharing (Schultz) Programs such as KazaA, Limewire, Bearshare, and Morpheus allow users to download music files from other users at no cost. “Peer to Peer Networking” (P2P) is a system that gives all computers in a specific network the ability to share their files with other computers in the network. Users can also search other users’ computers to find exactly what they are looking for. Millions of people all over the world are connected to P2P technology, making it possible for any individual with an Internet connection to download virtually any music file free of charge. After typing the word “Eminem” in the search box of the file-sharing network Morpheus, 831 results are displayed. Consequently, any child or teenager with access to the internet has immediate access to Eminem’s songs. And while Eminem employed a method called “spoofing” in 2002, releasing fake tracks into file-sharing networks to prevent fans from downloading his songs, this was done in order to encourage fans to buy his CD, not as a means to prevent children or young teenagers from hearing his vulgar music. Despite his efforts, however, most files that appear in the Morpheus search results are legitimate, full songs. Furthermore, despite his grievances about file-sharing, Eminem’s album The Eminem Show was still 2002’s bestselling album (Beets). If kids are downloading Eminem’s songs from file-sharing networks instead of buying CDs in the store, then there are obviously no warning labels to even see, let alone parental regulations over the music that kids download. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study, one in five American kids aged 8-18 has Internet access in his or her own bedroom (DeBord), giving them unsupervised unlimited access to the Internet, file-sharing, and Eminem’s official website.

Online at Eminem’s official website, which has a “Parental Advisory” warning label placed discreetly in the lower left-hand corner, the song “When I’m Gone” immediately starts playing within seconds of entering the site, followed by the song “The Way I Am.” Eminem raps about smoking weed, being a prick, and “not giving a fuck,” as being parts of his true identity, an identity that young kids and teenagers who may not have found their own might try to emulate. Accompanying the songs is a video depicting various stages in Eminem’s life. At one point Eminem is shown revving a chainsaw, and the chainsaw disappears in a crowd of people, blood spattering everywhere. If a child or young teenager were to go to this website -which is the first hit that Google gives when typing the word “Eminem” in the search box- he or she would immediately associate Eminem with violence and murder. As a result, the young person might think that violence is okay since Eminem, a hip, successful artist, is associated with it. 70% of children’s Internet access occurs away from the home (Hughes), so parents have little monitoring over what websites their children visit while at school, the library, or a friend’s house. While pornography and plagiarism sites may be blocked from school libraries or classrooms, it is unlikely that a filtering program would block Eminem’s official website, as it contains no nudity or curse words and the songs that are played are “censored,” with the curse words muted.

Some may argue that despite the negative effects that Eminem’s music may have on young people, music is still a means of expression, and that the 1^st amendment prevents anyone from infringing upon the basic freedoms of speech. But when the music expressed has a clear harmful effect on its young listeners, it should be restricted to mature audiences only. With television, the internet, and the availability of music, it is almost impossible to regulate what children and young teenagers listen to, and warning labels provide no help in filtering the music that children listen to.

Works Cited

“Eminem Awards and Achievements.” TRSHady.com: The Ultimate Fansite. 2005.

Retrieved on 2006-11-10. http://www.trshady.com/eminemawards/

“Eminem headlined Slane Castle Concert, sold out all tickets.” Softpedia. 10 June 2005.

<http://news.softpedia.com/news/Eminem-headlined-Slane-Caster-concert-sold-out-
all-tickets-2976.shtml>

“The Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums.” December 2003.

<http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/rs200.html#Top%20500%20Albums>

Ajirire, Tosin. “Eminem, Queen Latifah for MTV Movie Awards.” The Daily Sun. 4

June 2005

<http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/blockbuster/2005/june/04/blockbust
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Armstrong, Edward G. “Eminem’s construction of authenticity.” Popular Music and

Society. Oct 2004.